Last Tuesday, the electricity for my apartment was cut off from 8.30 until 1430 in order for essential repairs. Deprived of my normal morning browsing the news and using the internet for searching new ideas and publications, I was driven to going through my completely disorder downloads folder. It was somewhat shameful how many papers and documents I had downloaded, neglected to read and failed to properly index and file.

But it turned upon some very worthwhile publications. One which I recommend is the recent UNESCO publication, AI and the future of education: Disruptions, dilemmas and directions. The introduction explains that the “anthology explores the philosophical, ethical and pedagogical dilemmas posed by
disruptive influence of AI in education. Bringing together insights from global thinkers, leaders and change makers, the collection challenges assumptions, surfaces frictions, provokes contestation, and sparks audacious new visions for equitable human machine co-creation.”

The 21 “think pieces” and some 165 pages covering different themes Unesco says this volume takes a step “towards building a global commons for dialogue and action, a shared space to think together, debate across differences, and reimagine inclusive education in the age of AI.”

It is going to take a bit of time to get through the whole publication although it looks well worthwhile. But the advantage of the format is the option to choose the entries which most interest you and each contribution has been limited to six pages.

I started out reading ‘The end of assessment as we know it: GenAI, inequality and the future of knowing’ by Mike Perkins and Jasper Roe driven by my present interest in AI and assessment in Vocational Education and Training and in particular Work Based Learning (as an aside there seems little research in this area, if anyone has any recommended references please share with me). And although not really focused on assessment in VET and Work based learning) there was much of interest in the contribution. The authors say that GenAI raises key epistemic questions, “centred on whose knowledge will be recognized and whose credentials devalued.” They point out that “Ninety-nine per cent of the world’s languages lack the data required to train state-of-the-art GenAI models” (Choudhry, 2023). “As leading GenAI models primarily rely on English-language datasets that reflect a Western world view and system of knowledge (Roe, 2025), there is a genuine risk of marginalizing indigenous knowledge systems and exacerbating existing educational inequalities. Therefore, it is essential to critically examine and acknowledge how reliance on GenAI could influence whose knowledge is validated or marginalized.”

They conclude that we need to critically engage with the question of what modes of knowledge should we value? What are the power effects of these technologies being used widely by learners and teachers? How can the benefits of GenAI use be distributed ethically and equitably, especially in lower resource contexts?

My worry is that in most countries Vocational Education and Training is a lower resource context. large institutions can afford to invest in access to GenAI, this may not be so for small VET providers, and that VET will become largely reliant large private sector enterprises and knowledge providers in the future.

References
Choudhury, M. 2023. Generative AI has a language problem. Nature Human Behaviour, Vol. 7, No. 11. Berlin, Springer Nature, pp. 1802–1803.

Roe, J. 2025. Generative AI as cultural artifact: applying anthropological methods to AI literacy. Postdigital Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-025-00547-y (Accessed 5 August 2025.)

About the image

Thanks to advancements in digital technology, people can now work from various places, including those closer to nature, reflecting a shift in work environments. However, at the same time, birds resembling mouse cursors are causing chaos in the sky. Through this imagery, I highlight the challenges and unknown risks brought by such AI-driven communities. This series consists of digital illustrations, created by me at home, in cafés, on the subway, and even on aeroplanes. By using digital painting techniques, I aim to align more closely with the theme of 'digital'. The way illustrators work is also being influenced by digital technology—even career development is impacted by technological advancements (such as AI). This image was submitted as part of the Digital Dialogues Art Competition, which was run in partnership with the ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit) and supported by the UKRI ESRC.